Mr Benedict Lum

Improving the efficacy of monoclonal antibodies via dynamin inhibition

Monoclonal antibodies are used in cancer as a drugs that binds to overexpressed receptors on cancer cells. Receptor targets can be trafficked in and out of the cell which affects the ability of monoclonal antibody drugs to perform its function when target receptors are hidden intracellularly in cancer cells. Furthurmore, monoclonal antibodies when bound to cancer cells on the surface mediates immune reconition and immune mediated cancer cell killing by natural killer cells a process known as antibody dependent cell cytotoxicity (ADCC). For this to effectively occur, bound monoclonal antibodies must remain clustered on the cancer cell surface membrane. Our research work explores ways we can stop the trafficking of receptor targets into cancer cells, potentiating the efficacy of monoclonal antibody treatment.